It's starting to sprinkle. Light rain, drizzle, precipitation.

Senior Member

<<This question is taken from another thread that is about the form of verb used in the sentence.
As several have questioned the use of sprinkle in this context, relevant posts have been copied to a new thread, this one.>>

Senior Member

Yes, just to weigh in on numbers, I haven't heard "to sprinkle" used for rain. Two uses spring to my mind - one is a light watering of the garden and the other is a euphemism for urination, often in a cutesy way "oh don't mind little didums, he does tend to sprinkle everywhere".

No, but it'd give the slugs something to think about.Judica: talking about little kiddies sprinkling also sounds comical to me: it conjures up an image of a child lying face-up in the middle of a lawn, or perhaps marking its territory on the neighbourhood lamp-posts. Tinkle's the word I'd use for that too.

Senior Member

Don't quote me on this ... but here in the tropics where the only two seasons are wet and dry (no spring, winter, autumn, summer), the locals refer to 'sprinkling' as a raincloud just beginning to pass over the area. The rain starts off as a sprinkle, and may intensify into a steady light drizzle, depending on the size of the cloud. Or the rain may disappear completely without any effects. However, a drizzle is more steady & consistent, and calls for an umbrella. For example, after a storm, the rain will slow down to a steady drizzle before it stops completely. In sum, I think a drizzle is a bit more steady and intense than a sprinkle. We rush to get our clothes off the line when it starts to sprinkle, but if it's already drizzling, it's a bit too late to go out to rescue the wash off the line.

Today's thread has been added to the end of the earlier thread on the same topic - which could have been found by looking up any of sprinkledrizzle or drizzle sprinkle in the WR dictionary - as required by forum rule #1.